Trying the Pizza recipes from Aug issue...

[heatherfeather]

Ok, I have my dough for pizza rising as I type. I sure hope those pizzas in the August issue are as good as they sound. I am trying the tomato basil pizza tonight and also the olive potato one since the dough makes two batches.

One tip for anyone trying this recipe - don't mix this dough by hand. It is really, really tacky. It does firm up some after 10 minutes of kneading time, but it sticks to everything. Even my sponge now has a layer of pizza dough goo! I wish it had occurred to me to mix the dough up in my bread machine on the dough cycle. I don't often make homemade pizza!

I'll let you know how supper turns out!

[GayeC]

Oh my gosh, the AUGUST issue..... I can't wait to try the pizza recipes. I just ordered a peel from King Arthur.

[heatherfeather]

Well, here is my take on the two pizzas I tried.

First of all, the crust was a bit difficult to work with at first. As I mentioned above, I wish I had mixed up the dough in the bread machine rather than by hand. It took a while to figure out how to get the dough to "relax" enough to roll out. I tried stretching the dough with my hands and flinging it into the air like in a pizza parlor - actually, this was quite easy and productive!

The TOMATO PIZZA WITH GARLIC & SMOKED GOUDA: I thought this was delicious! The fresh basil added at the end was the real secret ingredient and absolutely essential to the aroma and taste. I felt lik I was eating at a gourmet restaurant! I used very fresh farm tomatoes and they came out so sweet and juicy. I was a bit skeptical about the smoked gouda, but it was very good. I would like to try mozzarella next time for a change. My husband added some crushed pepper flakes to spice his pieces a bit. Oh - I also used a pizza stone and the resrult was great.

The OLIVE-POTATO PIZZA: I had to use up some baby potaotes anyway, so I thought I'd make this recipe too. It is more like a potato tart taste. I didn't care for the Kalamata olives on this - and I usaully love that type of olive. They tasted sour and way too salty for the pizza. The potatoes came out very tender and tasty - I could even add more garlic. My dh didn't like thepotato pizza very much and my dd wouldn't touch it - she thought it was too spicy. All she ate was the crust. I don't have two pizza stones, so this baked on a regular perforated pizza pan. The crust rose up puffier and was a little chewier. If I make this again, I would serve it in tiny slices as an appetizer and I would use regular black olives and more garlic.